The affected ports handle roughly 43 percent of U.S. imports according to ITS Logistics, a supply chain and logistics company. In Houston, a prolonged strike could mean that the Bayport and Barbours Cut Gate container terminals would be closed indefinitely, freezing trade until the ILA and USMX come to an agreement.

Port of Houston dockworkers are on strike, joining thousands of unionized longshoremen along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts after the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) failed to reach a new labor contract agreement with the union.